Pretty Rock Part V
by Spaceman Bill
Summary: Waspinator loses a very important part of him, and Mirage and the arachnids hatch a plot.


Pretty Rock Part V  
  
  
Alone.  
That was something Waspinator never felt. Only the cries of the fallen. Night and day they tormented him. Always yelling at him. They taunted Waspinator. They angrily demanded release. They hurt him. He wanted out.  
And he would get out. Soon, all would be as it should. Waspinator would be free.  
"Waspinator!" Megatron bellowed. His shout echoed throughout the ship.  
Waspinator moaned. Another day, another assimilation, he supposed. He lurched out from his quarters, tapping in the locking code. He didn't know why he still did that, though. No one dared cross him.  
Upon reaching the bridge, he hopped onto a hoverboard which shuddered under the immense weight of the monster.  
"Crab-bot wazz too fat..." Waspinator mumbled to himself. He looked up too see Megatron holding the new Predacon Mirage in energy bonds. Megatron was smirking, while Mirage was defiant.  
"Waspinator, I've got a new spark for you to add to your collection!" Megatron grinned. "Unless Mirage here will pledge his loyalty like everyone else did?"  
"You're wasting your time with me, saurian." Mirage sneered, spitting mech fluid on Megatron's gleaming gold armor. Waspinator could tell they fought. Mirage's left optic was wincing, and Megatron had taken a few scratches from the Transmetal II chameleon's rifle.  
"Wazzpinator not want any zzparkzz."  
"What?!" Megatron snarled. Mirage grinned, chuckling.   
"Wazzpinator fine with thezze zzparkzz."  
"I order you to assimilate this enemy to the Predacon cause!"   
"I zzaid NO!"  
It seemed as if mega-cycles had passed while Waspinator and Megatron just stared at each other, although it was only a cycle. Finally, Megatron drew the other half of Rampage's spark. He clamped down on it, grinning as Waspinator shrieked in pain.  
"Assimilate him!" Megatron barked.  
"NO!" Waspinator shouted.  
"I see your soldiers are *very* loyal, Megatron." Mirage sneered.  
Megatron ignored the remark and clamped down harder. Waspinator began coughing. Mech fluid sprayed from his mouth. Megatron growled and squeezed the vice harder. Waspinator's coughing became more severe as he struggled to stay on the hoverboard. Finally, Waspinator coughed up a spark.  
The cyber-soul landed at Megatron's feet as he released the clamp. He looked at Waspinator to see the faint signs of the late Silverbolt crumble away. Megatron tapped the comm-link button on his console.  
"Fractyl, bring some containment cells to the bridge."  
In moments Fractyl appeared, clutching containment cells as he struggled to keep his hoverboard aloft. His jaw dropped as he saw Silverbolt's spark and the wearied Waspinator. Megatron shot Fractyl a quick look, and the spark was scooped up.  
"How did...?"  
"He tormented him, Fractyl! He's a maniac!" Mirage snarled. "Are you that blind?! First Razorclaw, then Buzz Saw, then Iguanus, now *you*! The smart one! Primus, what is wrong with this picture?!"  
"Nevermind him, Fractyl. We have sparks to collect from the assimilator." Megatron said. He clamped down on the vice yet again, sending Waspinator into shrieks of pain. After a few cycles, another spark emerged and the cheetah spots on Waspinator's abdomen warped into stripes.  
Waspinator keeled over as the torment continued. He heard Rampage's spark screaming, sharing his pain. They both wanted out of this prison.   
Fractyl watched in horror as Mirage sneered. Megatron ignored the two, continuing to quash the half-spark.   
"Dear Primus..." Fractyl stammered.  
"Shut up, you pansy. I've seen worse." Mirage snarled.   
With a final shriek, two sparks burst from Waspinator's body. The protoform slowly lost all features and greyed into a metal corpse.   
"Contain the sparks, Fractyl," Megatron said. "I have a use for them."  
  
***  
  
"Careful with that equipment!" Razorclaw barked. He felt some satisfaction in commanding troops once more. He looked over the massive sand dune platform, eagerly surveying the Predacons below. It was rare he didn't do work when his battlecruiser was being salvaged.  
"Those two ants are starting to bug me." Iguanus growled. "They're too...happy."  
"Tell me about it," replied Buzz Saw. "Inferno was a bit more dangerous last time we met."  
"You know that guy?" Iguanus asked.  
"Back on Cybertron. Remember when we crashed?"  
"Yeah. You suck."  
"I got shot down, you imbecile. Anyway, when we were captured, I was interrogated by Infantry Commander Inferno. I guess his protoform got a shell program stuck on it. I'm glad those things do mind-wipes."  
"Shut up and get back to work!" Razorclaw snarled. Buzz Saw and Iguanus flashed angry looks in reply.  
"He's changed." Iguanus grumbled.  
"Yup. I guess he was always this way when he had a partner." Buzz Saw said. "When he was in command, he was never so..."  
"...Much of a jerk?" Iguanus asked.  
"Thank you." Buzz Saw replied.  
"Shut up and keep salvaging!" Razorclaw shouted. The pair of Predacons mumbled and began work on the Loki II.   
"I wish I could just...oohhh..."  
"Slag him?"  
"Thank you."  
  
***  
  
Megatron stormed through the corridor, cannon in hand. The defiant Mirage was about to find out why pledging allegiance to Megatron was a good plan.  
Upon reaching the bridge, Megatron was shocked to find that Mirage had disappeared. How could he have escaped? The energy bonds were in their place. Nothing had moved. Mirage was a clever one.  
"Energy bonds, deactivate," sighed Megatron. The bonds dissolved into air, their generators clanking to the ground.  
Megatron left the room, mumbling about what he would do if he ever found the tricky chameleon. The bridge was silent.  
"Heh heh heh..."  
Mirage deactivated his cloaking device. He grinned, knowing that the trick had worked. Mirage loved fooling megalomaniacs. "Beast mode,"  
In a series of shifting joints, the mechanical chameleon emerged, immediately climbing into a ventilation shaft. He was going to learn every inch of this ship...and its secrets.  
  
***  
  
"That's it...gotta make this perfect..."  
Fractyl, being the anal-retentive scientist he was, carefully placed a label reading "Waspinator" on the side of a containment cell holding a spark.   
"Haha! Perfection, as always!" Fractyl grinned, shoving the cell onto a shelf. He found that Scorponok's lab was a fitting new domain, and the infamous quantum surge replicator could be fine tuned to his needs.  
"That's what we always expected from you..."  
Fractyl's smile of triumph turned to a nervous frown.  
"Who said that?!"  
"Fractyl, stop playing dumb. The security cameras have already been disabled."  
Fractyl looked around him, and sure enough, each camera had been either shut off or blown up.  
"You're a clever one, Mirage." Fractyl grinned.  
"Tell me about it." The spectre-like robot replied, still invisible to Fractyl. "What are you going to do with the sparks?"  
"Put them in new protoforms," stated Fractyl, admiring a cell with the label "Rampage I." He grinned and grabbed another. "Rampage I and II are supposedly invincible."  
"That's always handy."  
"I hope old Grape-Face doesn't find you."  
"He won't. Take care, Fractyl."  
"You too."  
  
***  
  
Quickstrike sat in his quarters, typing away at a small console. He brought a screen up, displaying Tarantulas.  
"Quickstrike reporting."  
"What is it?" Tarantulas asked.  
"I've got the transwarp cells you wanted." Quickstrike said.  
"Excellent!" Tarantulas cackled. His attention was quickly drawn to an alarm on his console. He tapped it and Blackarachnia's image joined Tarantulas's on Quickstrike's screen.  
"The new chameleon is loose in the ship. He's got a cloaking device, too." She said, a tad nervous. Tarantulas growled, frustrated.   
"Damn! He could ruin our plans!" He snarled. "Report to my lair immediately. Tarantulas out."  
The two images flickered away. Quickstrike made for the door, following orders. The room was empty as he made his exit.  
"What the Pit? Those spiders are up to something..." Mirage mumbled as he crawled through the shaft. "And I think I want in on it!"  
  
***  
  
Tarantulas bitterly eyed the hologram of the "pretty rock." He had no way of successfully obtaining the real crystal without casualties. Megatron had that thing guarded heavily.  
The hologram proudly displayed the shimmering green of the stone, despite Tarantulas's hatred of it.   
"Examining our objective?"  
Tarantulas slowly turned away from the hologram to face Blackarachnia. She bore an evil, yet sudective, smirk. Tarantulas hated it almost as much as the "pretty rock."  
"Indeed," he stated, quite calmly one might add. The hatred in his spark could be surpressed with ease. "Any suggestions on getting it?"  
"Nope," replied Blackarachnia. "Quickstrike won't have one, that's for sure."  
"Do not underestimate him. He's smarter than we think."  
"Oh, please. He can't even count to--"  
"Silence, witch! The Fuzor merely plays dumb. The lost memory is a tall tale."  
Blackarachnia frowned. "And how would you know this?"  
"I hacked into the computer he has back on the Darkside. He keeps a log. Underneath that moronic cowboy exterior lies a cold, calculating killer." Tarantulas smiled at that last part. "Just what we need for the job."  
"Somebawdy talkin' 'bout me?!"  
Quickstrike crawled into the cavern in beast mode, unlike Blackarachnia. With a quick transformation, he stood poised to strike, his cobra arm lashing out repeatidly.  
"Er, howdy, partner!" Tarantulas said. "The, uh, dame and I were discussing how--"  
"Thar's no time for that! That thar chameleon feller's been followin' me!" Quickstrike protested.  
"And why didn't you ambush him?" Blackarachnia growled.  
"I was gonna, 'til he started tawlkin'."  
"That's right."  
The spiders, shocked, drew their weapons and began looking for the cloaked Predacon.  
"Oh, please," said the invisible Mirage. "I didn't come here to kill you, though that would be entertaining. I know how to get your precious rock."  
Tarantulas began to chuckle. "Perhaps we can talk then!"  
"We'll have to wait until Megatron's busy with the Maximals. I'm betting that'll be as soon as he gets those new units up and running."  
"We had best start planning, then. From what I've heard, that Fractyl works quickly." Blackarachnia said.  
  
***  
  
"Isn't it beautiful?" Antagony asked.  
"I must admit, it is quite an impressive sight," replied Inferno. "But it pales in comparison to you, beloved."  
The two sat on the glittering sand of the beach, gazing at the sunset, holding each other.  
Inferno, though happy with his precious Antagony, was having a war in his mind. A war of loyalties. Ever since becoming involved with Antagony, he became more distant from Megatron, his queen.  
What was happening? Antagony was not as high quality a soldier to the colony, but Inferno was madly in love with her. He seemed more eager to just look at her than to serve the Royalty.  
In his mind, the colony was falling apart. He didn't care, though. He just wanted to be with Antagony.  
"What are you thinking about, Inferno?"  
"Oh, nothing, my dear...nothing."  



End file.
